St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-21
A TIM ELY SERMON.

A TIM ELY SERMON.
There is unquestionably good deal of
the sensational, and possibly good deal of
gross exaggerati0n in the report made by
the Minneapolis Society for the Prevention
Of Sin and Vice. which was published in
yesterdays GLOBE, still it contains con-
siderable amount of food for reflection. If
one-half of its revelations are true there is
immediate necessity fol- the application of
some social purifying processes. 1t is pos
sible that the society is too prudishly
inclined. and sees obscenity In that
which is not obscene, and vulgarity in that
which is not vulgar. TO the mind of the
true artist there can be no suggestion of
basenesS in a study Of statuary and paint
ing. But it must be admitted there is
frightful proclamation of art in these degen-
crate days. Cloaking itself in the garment
OF art, vice is making sad havoc among
young people of this generation. This is
nowhere more apparent than in the pre-
ivailing system of Illustrated advertising.
There is scarcely a soap manufacturer,
patent medicine vender or a cigarette maker
but sends broadcast all over the country his
illustrated advertising cards on which is
printed in glowing colors gross caricature
OF the ''Greek Slave" or some other cee-
DRAFTED work Ut art, always taking care,
however, that the subject shall be some
nude female figure. These advertisements
are the baSeSt ordinations of art, because,
as rule, they are so horribly executed that
there is nothing about the pictures to sug
gest art. They are merely immoral sug-
gestions, and because they are SO they are
regarded as valuable for advertising pur-
poses. Society must be getting down to
pretty low moral stratum when the COM
rnercial and industrial departments of the
country find it profitable to resort to immoral
devices in order to extend b..sineSS. 1t is
stratum below the lax moral conditions
of partisan society, for there they have
real aristocracy of art which make it inn
possible for such gross caricatures as exist
here to gain currency. But this is not the
worst form of vice which the Minneapolis
society alleges to exist in our midst. Not
satisfied with proclamation of art, vice has
desecrated the most useful branch of sci
ence to its foul purposes. Medical science
is made the victim of its impurity. The
| abort;Onist and the magnetic healer are
charged with being the fiendish instruments
by whose hands more deviltry is being done
than by all other vicious agencies combined.
And in this connection is made the most
startling statement of all the revelations
made by the SOciety'S report and right
along with it goes suggestion which un-
folds the cause of the fearful demOraliZa-
ton which the society is aiming to check
Speaking of the work OF the abortioniSt the
report says: This crime is not confined to
the poor and ignorant but rather to the
wealthy and refined, and to the religious
people" That is a horrible revelation. if
it is true; so horrible in fact that we are in
clined to doubt 1t until further proof of Its
accuracy is furnished. The report con-
tinues: There is no doubt but that
they do a work of great demand,
and this demand is increasing
and it will continue to increase so long as
parents bring their children up in idleness
and allow them to believe that there is no
harm in wrong doing, if no evil results fol-
low in their indiscretions." There is the
key to the whole Observation-Disclosures bring
ing children up in idleness." The devil
always finds employment for idle hands.
Idleness is the source of more inlquity than
all other agencies of evil put together And
| yet with the full knowledge of this fact
society is cultivating this prolific source of
evil. If the vices of which the Minneapo-
| lis society complains are more preva-
lent among the wealthy and intelligent
| classes than among the poor and ignorant,
| it is simply because the former encourage
| idleness, which the latter cannot afford to
do. The foolish idea that work is degrad-
| ing has been the ruin of many person.
The proud mother, who will not allow her
| daughters to do housework because she is
afraid it will lower their position in society,
little dreams of the danger with which she
is envirohing their young lives by permit
ting them to grow up in idleness. Better,
| thousand times better, that the girls
should do the Homework, and the kitchen
work, too. for that matter, and grow up in
| the blessed moral influences of home life
| than they should kill the idle time, which
| lays so heavy OH their hands, by be-
| ing drawn into the vortex Of temptation
! which outside society presents. Girls who
| have house-cleaning and needle work to do
at home under mothers tuition have neither
| the time nor inclination to be running
| around with idle companions. seeking the
haunts of the fortune teller and the den of IA
| magnetic healer. In its report the Mime
apolIs society very forcibly suggests that
there is too much parade being made by
certain class of female reforlners-women
who are agitating female suffrage, for in-
| stance, and others who are over jealous in
regard to reforming the vicious elements in
| our jails and penitentiaries Reform, like
charity, should always begin at home. That
is the place for the female reformers. Let
them begin by teaching their sons and
daughters tc live purer lives and not to EN-
courage others of an opposite sex to act in
an improper manner. The Minneapolis So
eiety may be off in great many things, yet
| it is correct to the letter when it says tn
| only solution of the problem is to raise up
| a generation of young women who will de-
mand clean, pure young men for lovers
and husbands.
DANENHOwER'S DEATH.
There is something peculiarly sad about
| the death Of Lieut.. DANENHowER. The
| terrible sufferings the poor fellow endured